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This year, Malta has seen positive improvements in its asylum policy, in particular a decreased use of detention, according to the updated Asylum Information Database (AIDA) report written by ECRE members, aditus Foundation and Jesuit Refugee Service Malta. The decrease is due to the lower numbers of people reaching Malta by boat; only 99 people in 2015. Following an agreement signed by Malta and Italy, all those rescued in Maltese territorial waters and the Search and Rescue Zone were disembarked in Italy.

In 2015, the majority of asylum seekers in Malta arrived regularly, by plane, and as a consequence were not detained. As a result, Lyster Barracks, one of the detention facilities, was closed in mid-2015 as no persons were detained there. Moreover, an Initial Reception Centre with a capacity of 200 places was established in early 2015 for unaccompanied children and children accompanied by up to two family members. The intention is to avoid the detention of minors, yet it is unclear whether the conditions of stay in that centre would, in practice, amount to deprivation of liberty.

This booklet is the outcome of group sessions held by JRS Malta with Somali women, most of whom are awaiting the outcome of their asylum application. The aim of the JRS project was to make the women aware that they could actually be active agents of change in their own lives, to identify challenges they face as migrants in Malta and to help them to advocate for improved services. This reflects our policy to include an advocacy element in our programs and to advocate not only for but with refugees. The women who contributed to this booklet all had their initial asylum application rejected – a few had received a second rejection on appeal as well – and all were in detention when we started the group sessions. The decision to work with women who had been in detention for a long time was a natural one for JRS to take because we always prioritise people who find themselves in this predicament.

The automatic detention of undocumented migrants for up to 18 months and of asylum seekers for up to 12 months is “in breach of Malta’s international human rights obligations”, human rights experts have warned. In its annual ‘State of the World’s Human Rights’ report, human rights organisation Amnesty International said that Malta’s search and rescue operations at sea, limited at disembarking refugees and migrants in its territory, is too “restrictive”.

The Bishops of Malta and Gozo this morning called for justice in the wake of the killing of an immigrant in a Detention Service van and asked whether this case should lead to a review of the detention policy. Two soldiers have been accused of the murder of Mamadou Kamara early on Saturday.